The value of naturally occurring estrogens and synthetic compositions demonstrating "estrogenic" activity has been in their medical and therapeutic uses. A traditional listing of the therapeutic applications for estrogens alone or in combination with other active agents includes: oral contraception; relief for the symptoms of menopause; prevention of threatened or habitual abortion; relief of dysmenorrhea; relief of dysfunctional uterine bleeding; an aid in ovarian development; treatment of acne; diminution of excessive growth of body hair in women (hirsutism); the prevention of cardiovascular disease; treatment of osteoporosis; treatment of prostatic carcinoma; and suppression of post-partum lactation [Goodman and Gilman, The Pharmacological Basis Of Therapeutics (Seventh Edition) Macmillan Publishing Company, 1985, pages 1421-1423]. Accordingly, there has been increasing interest in finding newly synthesized compositions and new uses for previously known compounds which are demonstrably estrogenic, this is, able to mimic the action of estrogen in estrogen responsive tissue.
From the viewpoint of pharmacologists interested in developing new drugs useful for the treatment of human diseases and specific pathological conditions, it is most important to procure compounds with some demonstrable estrogen-like function but which are devoid of proliferative side-effects. Exemplifying this latter view, osteoporosis, a disease in which bone becomes increasingly ,more fragile, is greatly ameliorated by the use of fully active estrogens; however, due to the recognized increased risk of uterine cancer in patients chronically treated with active estrogens, it is not clinically advisable to treat osteoporosis in intact women with fully active estrogens for prolonged periods. Accordingly estrogen agonists are the primary interest and focus.
Osteoporosis is a systemic skeletal disease, characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue, with a consequent increase in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. In the U.S., the condition affects more that 25 million people and causes more than 1.3 million fractures each year, including 500,000 spine, 250,000 hip and 240,000 wrist fractures annually. These cost the nation over $10 billion. Hip fractures are the most serious, with 5%-20% of patients dying within one year, and over 50% of survivors being incapacitated.
The elderly are at greatest risk of osteoporosis, and the problem is therefore predicted to increase significantly with the aging of the population. Worldwide fracture incidence is forecast to increase three-fold over the next 60 years, and one study estimates that there will be 4.5 million hip fractures worldwide in 2050.
Women are at greater risk of osteoporosis than men. Women experience a sharp acceleration of bone loss during the five years following menopause. Other factors that increase the risk include smoking, alcohol abuse, a sedentary lifestyle and low calcium intake.
Estrogen is the agent of choice in preventing osteoporosis or post menopausal bone loss in women; it is the only treatment which unequivocally reduces fractures. However, estrogen stimulates the uterus and is associated with an increased risk of endometrial cancer. Although the risk of endometrial cancer is thought to be reduced by a concurrent use of a progestogen, there is still concern about possible increased risk of breast cancer with the use of estrogen.
Black, et al. in EP 0605193A1 report that estrogen, particularly when taken orally, lowers plasma levels of LDL and raises those of the beneficial high density lipoproteins (HDL's). Long-term estrogen therapy, however, has been implicated in a variety of disorders, including an increase in the risk of uterine cancer and possibly breast cancer, causing many women to avoid this treatment. Recently suggested therapeutic regimens, which seek to lessen the cancer risk, such as administering combinations of progestogen and estrogen, cause the patient to experience unacceptable bleeding. Furthermore, combining progesterone with estrogen seems to blunt the serum cholesterol lowering effects of estrogen. The significant undesirable effects associated with estrogen therapy support the need to develop alternative therapies for hypercholesterolemia that have the desirable effect on serum LDL but do not cause undesirable effects.
There is a need for improved estrogen agonists which exert selective effects on different tissues in the body. Tamoxifen, 1-(4-.beta.-dimethylaminoethoxyphenyl)-1,2-diphenyl-but-1-ene, is an antiestrogen which has a palliative effect on breast cancer, but is reported to have estrogenic activity in the uterus. Gill-Sharma, et al., J. Reproduction and Fertility (1993) 99, 395, disclose that tamoxifen at 200 and 400 mg/kg/day reduces the weights of the testes and secondary sex organs in male rats.
Recently it has been reported (Osteoporosis Conference Scrip No. 1812/13 Apr. 16/20, 1993, p. 29) that raloxifene, 6-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-3-[4-(2-piperidinoethoxy) benzoyl] benzo[b] thiophene, mimics the favorable action of estrogen on bone and lipids but, unlike estrogen, has minimal uterine stimulatory effect. (Breast Cancer Res. Treat. 10(1). 1987 p 31-36 Jordan, V. C. et al.).
Neubauer, et al., The Prostate 2:3:245 (1993) teach that raloxifene treatment of male rats produced regression of the ventral prostate.
Raloxifene and related compounds are described as antiestrogen and antiandrogenic materials which are effective in the treatment of certain mammary and prostate cancers. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,068 and Charles D. Jones, et al., J. Med. Chem. 198.4, 27, 1057-1066.
Jones, et al in U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,814 describe derivatives of 2-phenyl-3-aroylbenzothiophene and 2-phenyl-3-aroylbenzothiophene-1-oxides which are useful as antifertility agents as well as suppressing the growth of mammary tumors.
Lednicer, et al., J. Med. Chem., 12, 881 (1969) described estrogen antagonists of the structure ##STR2## wherein R.sup.2 is phenyl or cyclopentyl and R.sup.3 is H, ##STR3## or -CH.sub.2 CHOHCH.sub.2 OH.
Bencze, et al., J. Med. Chem., 10,138 (1967) prepared a series of tetrahydronaphthalenes intended to achieve separation of estrogenic, antifertility and hypocholesterolemic activities. These structures are the general formula ##STR4## wherein R.sup.1 is H or OCH.sub.3 ; R.sup.2 is H, OH, OCH.sub.3, OPO(OC.sub.2 H.sub.5), OCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 N(C.sub.2 H.sub.5).sub.2, OCH.sub.2 COOH or OCH(CH.sub.3) COOH.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,234,090 refers to compounds which have estrogenic and antifungal properties of the formula ##STR5## in which Ph is a 1,2-phenylene radical, Ar is a monocyclic carbocyclic aryl group substituted by tertiary amino-lower alkyl-oxy, in which tertiary amino is separated from oxy by at least two carbon atoms, R is hydrogen, an aliphatic radical, a carbocyclic aryl radical, a carbocyclic aryl-aliphatic radical, a heterocyclic aryl radical or a heterocyclic aryl aliphatic radical, the group of the formula -(C.sub.n H.sub.2n-2)- stands for an unbranched alkylene radical having from three to five carbon atoms and carrying the groups Ar and R, salts, N-oxides, salts of N-oxides or quaternary ammonium compounds thereof, as well as procedure for the preparation of such compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,277,106 refers to basic ethers with estrogenic, hypocholesterolemic and antifertility effects which are of the formula ##STR6## in which Ph is a 1,2-phenylene radical, Ar is a monocyclic aryl radical substituted by at least one amino-lower alkyl-oxy group in which the nitrogen atom is separated from the oxygen atom by at least two carbon atoms, R is an aryl radical, and the portion -(C.sub.n H.sub.2n-2)- stands for lower alkylene forming with Ph a six- or seven-membered ring, two of the ring carbon atoms thereof carry the groups Ar and R, salts, N-oxides, salts of N-oxides and quaternary ammonium compounds thereof.
Lednicer, et al., in J. Med. Chem. 10, 78 (1967) and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,274,213 refer to compounds of the formula ##STR7## wherein R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 are selected from the class consisting of lower alkyl and lower alkyl linked together to form a 5 to 7 ring member saturated heterocyclic radical.